Rain and more rain...

Our 80-degree days are history, and I surely do miss the sun and the warmth.  We're at about 50 degrees as I type, with the weather wizards promising freezing temperatures by the end of this week. Not exactly my favorite kind of forecast.

The little town we live in has an annual Christmas parade and we enjoy going downtown and sitting on the steps of the courthouse to watch the floats and the kids, the horses and long-horns, and everyone just has fun and gets into the Christmas spirit. Because of the weather this weekend, the parade was cancelled. We don't know if they will be able to re-schedule it, and I don't think they will. With each week now, everyone gets busier as they get ready to celebrate Christmas Eve and Day. This is a very "Merry Christmas" type of town... you don't often hear "Happy Holidays" on our downtown streets.

We're having our Christmas party next weekend, and I'm hoping the frigid weather that's expected won't put a damper on the party. We're having a Christmas Sweater Party, like we did last year... we asked everyone invited to wear some sort of Ugly/Pretty/Festive/Crazy/Creative Christmas Sweater/Shirt/Blouse. For last year's party, we had the air-conditioning on because it was so warm outside (my kind of winter) but this year the heat will have to be on for sure, unless those cold temperatures coming in from Alaska and Canada go elsewhere. (One can hope.)

Rather than getting our big Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving, we waited a week and went shopping yesterday for the real tree. We went to every store selling real trees in this town, and came home with nothing. The trees at Home Depot were mostly tossed on the ground, with lots of brown spots and bare branches on nearly all of the trees. Lowe's wasn't any better, although their trees were carefully displayed. Walmart had trees, but most were too skinny, with not enough room for my husband's vintage Christmas lights and our ever-growing collection of ornaments.

We went out again today... driving up to College Station. Home Depot was our first stop, and we didn't have to look elsewhere. They had lots of trees in all sizes, neatly displayed, and we found a tree that will reach up to the ceiling once we put Roy Rogers' star at the top. (The actual star that the Rogers family used for their own tree back in the day.... it's a replica of the huge gold star that was permanently displayed over Roy and Dale's ranch.)

This weekend had been set aside for tree-trimming, but we didn't get the tree till this afternoon. So my husband will set up the tree and put the lights on tomorrow, and then I will do the ornaments... we should be finished by Tuesday evening.  I have a schedule that I stick to during the week of our parties, and we're not quite adhering to it at this point. Somehow, everything gets done. (The little elves come out after midnight...)

This will be Savannah's second Christmas. From her doggie-bed in the corner of the breakfast room, she will be able to see the big tree through the glass of the doors leading into the dining room. Savannah was very good with the real tree last year... giving it a sniff here and there but not touching the ornaments or the bubble-lights.  She has already walked around the living room and the dining room, inspecting all the little trees and the decorations arranged around those rooms... sniffing some of the Santas, staring at a few of the table-top trees, but not touching a thing. Not a thing. What a great dog.

While we were in College Station today, we went into PetSmart to look at collars and to buy a big bag of dog food. They had so many Christmas outfits for dogs, for tiny little puppies and for larger breeds like Savannah. I picked up a Santa suit that would have fit Savannah, but then put it back. I wasn't sure if Savannah would wear it and keep it on all night during the party, and she's probably more comfortable in just her long-haired glory anyway. I truly love this dog. Savannah trusted me when she trusted no one else, and I will never forget that.

December goes by so quickly. We're just at the beginning here, but I know that the next few weeks will just disappear.  My husband came home with a small box of Whitman's Chocolates the other night and I nearly burst into tears. Whitman's was always my dad's favorite, and never a holiday went by without a box of Whitman's on my grandmother's dining room table. As always, when the family got together for Christmas, my dad and my Uncle Mino would have their yearly discussion as to which chocolate was the best--- Whitman's or Russell Stover's (my uncle's favorite).  I can see them both now with thin fruit knives... each one taking a selection from their respective boxes of chocolates and slicing through each to compare the insides. ("You call that caramel, Mino? Just look at the Whitman's here!")

Life goes by so quickly. And so much of it has disappeared. All that's left are the memories. And the occasional box of Whitman's.